Punters in luck at Eagle Farm

EAGLE Farm has morphed from a betting inferno into a punters’ paradise, figures reveal, marking it one of the most consistent tracks in the country following a dramatic revamp last year.

The new and improved surface, which was changed from couch grass to a more resilient kikuyu last year, has seen a huge improvement when it comes to favourites winning, with only Flemington having a better strike rate in the country when it comes to metropolitan racing.

Australia-wide figures obtained by News Corp show since July 1 last year until December 31 Eagle Farm favourites struck at 40 per cent, with the highly regarded Flemington coming in at an incredible 43 per cent.

In that time, 141 races were run at the track, for 57 favourites to win, compared to Flemington’s smaller sample size of 99 races for 43 winners.

The national average over the same time for more than 2500 metropolitan races was 34 per cent, putting Eagle Farm well and truly ahead of the curve.

Eagle Farm is one of just four regular metropolitan tracks where punters who backed favourites with a flat stake would return a profit on turnover for the last six months.

Sydney tracks Canterbury, Warwick Farm and Rosehill are among the worst performing in the country, with favourites striking at just 25, 28 and 28 per cent respectively.

Once maligned as a nightmare to bet on following the botched redevelopment in 2015, Eagle Farm is roaring back to life as one of the premier punting tracks in the country.

Data shows the track went from one of the most volatile for punters in the country, to one of the most consistent, with favourites striking at just 23 per cent when racing returned in 2016.

It then hovered between 31 and 33 per cent between 2018 and 2021, when trainers were hesitant to run their horses at the track due to its firmness and the way some horses reacted to it.

While trainers were once wary of running their horses at the track, it is now considered by many to be a reliable surface to race on.

Forced to carry the brunt of the workload when Eagle Farm has been in and out of action, Doomben has performed consistently around the national average.

Over the same six-month period, Doomben favourites struck at 31 per cent, however that number has hovered between 32 and 38 per cent since the 2015 Eagle Farm renovation.